Save the Trees, Moonhack 2022
Moonhack 2022 has 6 especially developed projects that look at how satellites are used for sustainability. The Save the Trees project showcases the role that satellite communication plays in saving our historic trees and forests.
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About the Project
Forests around the world are being threatened by human decisions. To address this the UN has devised 3 pathways to achieve green recovery, with one pathway addressing halting deforestation, which is a key driver for this coding project.
Protecting our forests and using trees responsibly are part of the UNs Sustainability Goals 12 and 15. The Save the Trees project uses satellites to communicate between two devices that are like an alarm that identifies when marked trees fall in a forest, either from natural or man made causes. This would then allow forest rangers to investigate.
This project is the second of 6 projects released for Moonhack 2022 and is aimed at coders who are beginners using Micro:Bits. The challenges at the end of the project are excellent for extending your more confident coders. This project can be completed virtually, or if you have access to Micro:Bits can be developed into a larger project incorporating elements of design.
Australian Curriculum Links
This project is a great example of STEM learning within the classroom. It is suitable for years 4–6.
Students in year 4 in HASS are provided with an inquiry question of What is the significance of the environment and what are different views on how it can be used and sustained, past and present? This project could be incorporated into this inquiry and would then integrate into the Technologies curriculum through both the digital and design strands.
Students in year 5 in HASS are provided with an inquiry question of What is the relationship between environments and my roles as a consumer and citizen? Again this project could be incorporated into this inquiry with more of a slant of how the falling of historical trees effects them.
This project could be taught as a Technologies unit where digital and design technologies are blended together to create a prototype that provides a service to the community and could also be used to assess the strands separately.
As an example of a STEM unit it is overlaid with creative and critical thinking general capabilities as well as ICT and ethical understanding. It also incorporates the cross-curriculum priorities of sustainability and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures when you delve deeper into the way that First Nations people interacted with their environment and the ways that they used the forests.
Further Resources
To broaden understanding of the content within this project there are many great resources which can be accessed.
This website has many interactive maps and sets of data about the world’s forests. This would introduce some great numeracy general capabilities within students learning.
This video on YouTube explores why forests are important in our world.
Explore the oldest trees in the world — would these be trees that your alarm would be attached to? Located in Sweden, Old Tjikko is over 9 550 years old, standing tall and proud. The Pando in Utah, USA, are approximately 80 000 years old and have lived this long as they are a clonal colony, which means they are a grove of trees which share the same root system, which makes each tree genetically identical.
Moonhack takes place from October 10th to 23rd in 2022. Make sure you register to be counted in this year’s numbers!
Kaye
Moonhack Mission Control
